Today, I am bringing you a review of Big Sean's new album, Dark Sky Paradise. This is Big Sean's 3rd studio album, and I have had a pretty polarizing opinion on the guy so far. There will be times where I think this guy has great potential, whether it be from his good 2011 debut Finally Famous or a nice feature verse like on the songs Clique and All Me. Other times I feel Big Sean is unbearably corny and terrible, and these times have been recently. His last album, Hall of Fame, was awful. This album had almost no good qualities to it and it had me down on Big Sean. This new album, Dark Sky Paradise, looks promising, but will Big Sean really impress me?
With Kanye West executively producing this album and overlooking it, Dark Sky Paradise shines in its production and mood. The album flows incredibly well from track to track, and while every song brings something different, most of the beats follow a dark, solemn sound. This is the first album of Big Sean's that really has a true identity. Sean works with a variety of great producers on Dark Sky Paradies, including Kanye, DJ Mustard, Mike Will Made It, and DJ Dahi. The first song that stands out production wise is All Your Fault, produced by Kanye himself. He absolutely killed this song, adding some awesome female singing samples into the trap style drums. I Don't Fuck With You has two beats, one being a bouncy DJ Mustard groove and the other a soulful Kanye instrumental.The song Paradise has fat, loud horns dominating it, along with some hard drums. Possibly the most interesting and unique one here, though, is the Outro. This was an odd concoction of melodic soul samples and fast paced drum sounds. It sounded amazing, and was a happy ending to a pretty dark album. This album's production, other than some beats that sound similar to each other, is spectacular. The production of Dark Sky Paradise carries the album, and ultimately is what makes it so good.
I have expressed my disdain for Big Sean many times before, but I feel he steps up just enough on this album. Sure, he still throws out at least three incredibly corny lines on every song and has a pretty annoying voice. But on this album he shows off his best skill, which is flowing well over the beat. I think he fit this production perfectly, and he ended up sounding really good on most of the tracks. He opens up the song Blessings rapping very well over the atmospheric production, and he raps pretty fast there too. I was impressed by his technical skills not only on that song, but on many others here, like Dark Sky, Paradise, and Outro. It is clear at this point that he doesn't care much about his lyrics, and he seems to have two corny moments for every clever line he drops. On an album like this though, with such great production and sound, it does not stand out nearly as much as it used to for Sean. The other thing that really carries Dark Sky Paradise and makes it a lot better is the features. The song All Your Fault, a song pretty much dominated by Kanye West, is fantastic. It is catchy and fun, but also has a pretty dark vibe.surrounding it. With its incredibly infectious hook and solid Kanye verses, this is one of the best songs that has come out this year. As for the other features, they just elevated whatever song they were on. Drake continued his dominant run with a good verse on Blessings, and Lil Wayne took a mediocre song with Deep and saved it with some awesome bars. While hooks may be the album's weak point, with bad ones like Stay Down and I Know, there was one shining one, being Play No Games. This one was sung beautifully by Chris Brown, and it has been stuck in my head for a while. Overall, I can say I liked almost every track on Dark Sky Paradise. Even though Big Sean still isn't a great MC, he improved considerably with his skills on this album, and then the featured artists added a lot. They made the songs memorable, along with the stellar production. I am glad to say Big Sean put together not just a good album, but a surprisingly outstanding album.
DARK SKY PARADISE WRAP UP
+Big Sean improved slightly and became someone who doesn't bother me at all
+Production was extremely good being overlooked by Kanye West
+Catchy, fun, infectious tracks
+All Your Fault is a song of the year contender
+Fantastic features
Best: All Your Fault, Play No Games, Outro
Worst: I Know
Big Sean- Dark Sky Paradise
8.7/10
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